Prince Charles decries persecution of Mideast Christians

Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the Holy See drew attention to a recent speech in which Prince Charles lamented the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

“I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East,” said the heir to the British throne. “It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are, increasingly, being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants. Christianity was, literally, born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ.”

“For 20 years, I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding,” he added. “The point though, surely, is that we have now reached a crisis where the bridges are rapidly being deliberately destroyed by those with a vested interest in doing so – and this is achieved through intimidation, false accusation and organized persecution – including to Christian communities in the Middle East at the present time.”

“Now, of course, is the time to re-double our combined efforts to stress what binds the three Abrahamic faiths together and, as Christians, Jews and Muslims, to express outrage at what tears us asunder,” he continued. “My prayer this afternoon is for all beleaguered communities and I believe that Western Christians ought to pray earnestly for fellow-believers in the Middle East. I am reminded that today in the Eastern Christian calendar it is the festival of Daniel and the three boys in the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They symbolize all those who are persecuted for their faith. But the important point is: they survived!”

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Charles is quite right when he speaks of globe-girdling persecution. But just who are "those who have a vested interest" in destroying "bridges" between Islam and Christianity, and why are they succeeding spectacularly in every country dominated by Muslims? Beyond these questions that beg to be asked, I think it is misleading to refer to "the three Abrahamic faiths", implying that Islam has a relationship to Christianity similar to Judaism's; absolutely nothing could be further from the truth!